Good Morning from a little spot called the "Nucleus",

Over the past few months I have found a little breakfast and coffee shop called the Nucleus. It is in Eau Claire, which is about 20 miles away from Menomonie. It is a wonderful place for two reasons. First, they have outstanding coffee and amazing breakfasts; and second, I can actually sort of hide because no one knows me and I can get my work done. I can sit here and drink organic coffee and in a few hours burn through a number of assignments and concentrate. It is on Water Street, which is the campus town of UW-EC, and in such a location, it has a multitude of different faces and "genres" of people. Can people be considered in genres like movies or music or art?

As I look out the window, the trees are bare and it is grey; there have been a couple dustings of snow, but nothing major; however, there is a chill in the air which reminds us that change is about to descend. Change . . . it is an interesting concept. What constitutes change, is it really a Kuhnian paradigmatic shift or something much more subtle? Do we miss many of the more elusive changes because we are so caught up in our daily lives or are we only impressed with the changes that create seismographic shifts in our daily reality?

Later this week is Thanksgiving; it is a time to gather together and appreciate those who give a sense of place or belonging. Fortunately, I have a beautifully intelligent and wonderfully kind niece who allows me to be part of her family. Yes, I know I technically am part of the family, but how often are we part of something without being involved in it? She allows me the blessing of being an integral part of her family. It is such a gift. It is perhaps the one time I believe to feel a sense of place. It is perhaps because in spite of the changes, there is something constant.

As the years pass, people come and go, we move from location to location, and the world in which we live never sleeps (forgive the cliche’). The only thing constant is inconsistency and for that I guess I am thankful

Thanks for reading.

Michael